Indian crypto exchange WazirX Hacked
This attack has resulted in the loss of digital assets worth more than $230 million (about Rs 1,909 crore). It has also been officially acknowledged by issuing a statement on X and all withdrawals have been temporarily suspended to ensure the safety of the remaining assets.
WazirX gave information
According to WazirX’s ‘preliminary report’, the compromised wallet was using Liminal’s digital asset custody and wallet infrastructure since February 2023. According to the report, this wallet was required to get approval from six people (people who approve transactions). Of these, five were from WazirX and one from Liminal.
How did the hack happen?
The attackers managed to exploit the difference between what was shown on Liminal’s interface and what was actually happening in the transactions. They altered the transactions to gain control of the wallet, bypassing security measures.
Why does the stolen $230 million amount matter?
According to the report, the estimated losses of the platform are $230 million. The fact that WazirX had disclosed holdings of around $500 million in its proof-of-reserves announcement in June makes the amount of missing assets notable. WazirX has thus lost almost half of its reserves. Cyverse estimates that the money stolen from the WazirX multiple-signature wallet will rank among the biggest cryptocurrency thefts of the last few years.
What was stolen from WazirX
According to third-party blockchain explorer Lookchain, more than 200 cryptocurrencies including 5.43 billion SHIB tokens, over 15,200 Ethereum tokens, 20.5 million Matic tokens, 640 billion Pepe tokens, 5.79 million USDT and 135 million Gala tokens were reportedly “stolen” from the network.
What about WazirX’s biggest competitor?
In India, Coin Switch and CoinDCX are two other major cryptocurrency exchanges. Customers were assured by both businesses that their money is safe and has not been affected by the incident. CoinDCX co-founder and CEO Sumit Gupta said via a tweet that “our wallet security remains strong.”
“We advise all our crypto investors to be mindful of potential market volatility during this time and exercise caution in their trading and investment activities,” tweeted Ashish Singhal, co-founder and CEO of Peopleco, the group holding firm of CoinSwitch.
What does the investigation report on the WazirX attack say?
According to a media report citing blockchain specialist Elliptic, the attack appears to have been carried out by hackers linked to North Korea. The hack was apparently caused by a private key that allowed the wallet to be leaked. According to reports, a malicious contract is upgraded from a secure multi-sig wallet containing multiple assets using the disclosed private keys.
WazirX vs Binance
In early 2023, India’s largest cryptocurrency platform WazirX split from major international player Binance. The two cryptocurrency exchanges had a lot of controversy in 2022 and they also became quite popular. Two years after Binance announced the purchase of WazirX, there were two ownership disputes. Binance founder Changpeng Zhao finally said that the two companies were unable to reach an agreement and took action to end Binance’s operations with the Indian company.